Family Judgement
by carealot
Summary: Harry Potter's third year! Living in two worlds will be hard for Harry Potter. See if you can work out which characters appear in his dream world and as who. He must keep himself safe in both realities because a crazed killer is on the loose and he still has to study! This story follows DIRECTLY on from the events "Family Matters" PLEASE READ FIRST so you don't get confused.
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

Harry dreamed. He saw his father holding Malfoy close in his arms. He turned and he saw Aunty Petunia and Uncle Vernon cuddling Dudley and patting him on the back looking so proud and happy. When he turned again he saw the Weasley family laughing happily together. Ron gave him a sneer and Ginny was snuggling up to her mother with her back to him. He wanted to join them, find out if Ron was ok, but it was like something was holding him to the spot like superglue. He kept turning and as he did he saw more happy families smiling and showing love for each other. Neville and his grandmother, Hermione and her parents, Seamus and his parents, Luna and her father and other happy families seemed to surround him in the dream. Everywhere he turned there was another family with loving children and parents standing together. They seemed like they belonged together and they were completely ignoring Harry. They all turned to him simultaneously and slowly started pacing towards him holding hands and chanting "not for you…not for you…not for you…not for you…" he watched as they started approaching him all in pace with one another. An unspoken connection seemed to bind the families together in a brilliant golden light yet people started disappearing as they got closer leaving the others to grow together in their stead. Finally it was just the weasleys, the dursleys snape and Malfoy behind, still walking towards him seeming to grow bigger and louder with every step.

He could hear every bitter thought every cruel memory he had of these people.

"Arrogant just like his father," he heard a familiar voice say almost in his ear.

Harry smiled for a second thinking of how funny it was for Snape to say that without even realising the truth.

"what are you grinning at boy," he heard his aunts voice scream

"I'll have you locked up in that cupboard with no meals for a week!" Vernon this time a voice that never failed to send chills right through him.

"Alright there scarhead?" Harry clenched his fists as he heard Malfoys voice echoing so loudly.

A blue light shined in front of him which he saw them step through as they screamed with their hands joined above their heads. Harry could see a single line of golden ribbon shining between them like magic.

"NOT FOR YOU! NOT FOR YOU!"

They roared at him. Their voices echoed within the confines of his mind. Seeming to carry him on a dark cloud where these voices continued to tell him that he was not worthy of this kind of love.

"Stupid freak who would ever want you?" he heard his cousin scream when suddenly the cloud left him in a dark room. He heard Snape speaking calming words which made him feel relaxed and comforted.

"it's alright don't worry I'll protect you"

"you're safe with me son"

Harry smiled and raced towards a light where he thought the voice was coming from. As he approached he noticed that Snape was wrapping his arms around Draco with his hand gently running through his hair. Harry wiped away a tear as he noticed an odd occurrence. Snape seemed to melt into him leaving only Draco in the room! Who morphed into a white rabbit with a little heart on his back leg. The rabbit raced past Harry and out a door.

"Hey come back!" Harry said as he chased after the rabbit which was once his father "dad don't forget me! Please!"

The rabbit disappeared down a rabbit hole and was gone. All was lost and there would be no chance of Harry getting to him. He stood there and cried thinking of all the good times he had shared with Snape and how close he thought they had gotten. How could all of this be wrong? Was he simply pretending to love him? Did he love Draco more and not need him anymore? Why did he leave him with Dumbledore the other day when he could have taken care of him by himself? Maybe he wished Draco was his son instead! As Harry stood and looked at the hole a mass of thoughts surrounding him he noticed the hole suddenly seemed to grow bigger and bigger until it seemed it would fit almost anything inside it. The hole made a sudden sucking sound and pulled him in just like a giant vacuum!

Harry felt he was falling down the hole very quickly at first just like he had when he had jumped into the chamber of secrets after Ginny. Down he started falling and down and down but the way he fell seemed to be slowing to the point where he could look around him at what was in the hole. He noticed that there were bits of furniture and objects flying by, a couch, a flowerpot. He saw Dumbledore and the street lamp whilst he was holding the dimmer he saw the light go out. He noticed Fred and George sitting at a table sipping at tea cups they smiled with mischievous grins. Moaning Myrtle flew past "Hello Harry" she said and giggled flying off before he could say anything.

As Harry slowly found his feet touching the ground the first thing he noticed was that he seemed to be in a giant sized room. The table and chair seemed huge! The only way to leave was a little door which was barely even noticeable at first. Harry looked up wondering if he knew any spells that could be helpful in this situation but nothing came immediately to mind "I can't fly back without my broom" he muttered to himself looking at the door…"so"…he tried to joggle the door a little but it seemed locked.

"Alohomora" he said pointing his wand at the door and he tried again.

Still nothing.

Harry sat down in the corner of the room to have a think about his problem. Laying his head down in his arms he heard his breath slowing down and he blacked out.


	2. What the future holds

Authors note: The next chapter has direct references from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in particular Hagrid's lesson with Buckbeak and Professor Trelawney's first class. I need to include these here because they are pertinent to the story I'm writing but please feel free to skip this chapter if you want as not much has changed from the original. I did however do my best to include some changes let's just say that writing canon isn't an easy task for me! This fanfiction is just written for fun and no copywrite infringement is intended.

"Harry, wake up. You're going to miss the first class!" Hermoine said as she shook her friend awake. He seemed to be really out of it this morning for some reason, usually he was an early riser. But Ron had said that there was simply no waking him, and had gone down to breakfast without him.

"Come on Hermione we don't want to miss class ourselves!" Ginny said reaching out and touching Hermione's shoulder.

"Come on Harry wake up!" Hermione said shaking her friend.

Harry groaned rolling over "come on Harry it's time for class!" Hermione said impatiently. Harry blinked looking around for his glasses and put them on. "I'm coming!" Harry said the girls happily left him to get dressed in peace whilst they got a head start wandering down to the Care of Magical Creatures class.

"Right yer lot form a line over here!" Hagrid said as the group wandered closer to the dark forest. It was the first Care of Magic Creatures lesson for the third year Gryffindors and Slytherin class. Draco and his crew were wandering along slowly behind everybody else trying to scare Harry with what they thought was a scary dementor noise with their arms up in the air every time he cared to turn around.

"Ok stop the nonsense, today class I have something really special for you!" Hagrid said as he took a few steps into the forest and came out with a creature which looked like a cross between a bird and a horse standing on four legs and easily hagrid's height in size. "This," he said proudly, "is a hippogriff. Noble and proud creatures very easily scared. Now...who wants to say hello?"

Harry had not realised that whilst Hagrid had walked into the forest the whole class had taken a few steps back which made him look like he was standing forward to volunteer!

"Harry good lad!" Hagrid beamed. Harry gulped but he walked over towards Hagrid not wanting to embarrass his friend, "now first of all we give a little bow," Hagrid demonstrated, "then we wait and see if he bows back!"

Harry copied Hagrid but also instinctively reached out to the creature. He could sense that the magnificent creature whilst being quite large was incredibly frightened. There were a lot of people around and it didn't know what the best course of action to take was. Harry reached out with the magic like Mel had taught him to and allowed himself to feel how soft the creature was and touch his feathers gently to calm the creature. This caused the creature to raise its head for more attention but also to glare down at him with its sharp orange eyes. Surveying the class. Malfoy was doing his best to annoy Ginny but as she had six older brothers and was used to this kind of attention she just ignored it. The hippogriff however, did not and raised itself up onto its back legs waving its talons in the air.

"back off Harry quick!" Hagrid said attempting to hide Harry behind him. But the creature put its feet back down on the ground and put its head down rubbing it into Harry's chest like a big cat! "aww look he likes ya!" Hagrid said beaming "I reckon he'd let ya ride him now!" Harry stared at the giant man at these words "uh Hagrid um" was all Harry could say thinking that a much better prize would be backing away! But Hagrid either didn't hear him or didn't listen because he lifted the boy with ease placing him on the back of the hippogriff.

"Don't pull his feathers he aint gonna like it" Hagrid said as he thumped the magnificent creature on the back signalling it was ok for it to fly if it wanted.

The hippogriff took to the air with the nervous boy clinging on around the creatures neck for dear life! Harry found this experience VERY different to riding his broomstick and he wished that he could still have both feet planted firmly on the ground! But whilst he was up in the air he decided he may as well try to make the best of his rocky ride and screamed out "woo hoo" as the creature flew over the black lake. They flew around for a little while Harry slowly getting adjusted to the movements of the fascinating creature and landed back in front of Hagrid again.

"Well done Harry!" Hagrid said, "and well done Buckbeak!"

Harry got off the giant creatures back with a little bit of help from Hagrid and went to sit down on a log nearby to watch the others. There were several hippogriffs nearby and the students had been split into 3 or 4 people per hippogriff to see how they could get along with the creatures. Hagrid beamed at his success as Malfoy approached Buckbeak with his friends Crabbe and Goyle not far behind.

"This is a joke if old scarhead can do it so can I! You're probably not dangerous at all you great big ugly brute!" Malfoy gave the hippogriff a shove as Crabbe and Goyle laughed. He smiled at his friends but when he looked back at the hypogriff the creature had its tallons in the air like before and when it went down it struck Malfoy clear across the chest.

"AAAAAAH!" he screamed, "its killed me, its killed me!"

"calm down its just scratch!" Hagrid said, then looking up sternly at the hippogriff he yelled "Buckbeak NO!" as if the massive creature was a little pekingese puppy that had done something naughty and deserved a scolding.

"Hagrid!" Hermione said "he's going to have to be taken to the hospital wing!"

"I'm the teacher I'll do it!" Hagrid said as he scooped up Malfoy into his strong arms.

"I'm going to get you!" Malfoy screamed at him, "you and your bloody pigeon are going to hear it from my father!"

"Class dismissed!" Hagrid said leaving the group of third years alone with their hippogriffs. A couple of people chose to stay as they had been feeding them bits of grass from nearby and patting them. But most of the hippogriffs had disappeared back into the dark forest once Hagrid had left.

If morning classes weren't interesting enough afternoon class was even more confusing. After having a double study period it was time for divination classes and the third year Gryffindors were all lined up outside the little ladder leading up to Professor Trelauneys classroom.

"Come in my dears!" Trelauney said standing at the top of the ladder. The students climbed the ladder and went through the little trap door to stand in the divination classroom looking around in interest. Never before had they been in a room that looked quite like this. It looked like a place that you could easily see many older ladies gossiping around quite comfortably. With enough arm chairs for one for each student placed in a circular pattern around the round coffee tables in front of them. Lining the walls was different kinds of tea and coffee and other unidentifiable substances along with a great number of crystal balls.

"Welcome children to the noble art of divination today we shall start a great journey together! I am Professor Trelauney and together we will cast ourselves into the future and discover if any of you hold the sight! Today we will start with the art of reading tea leaves I wish for you all to take a cup drink it down however you like and swap your cup with the person sitting opposite you. First place in whatever milk or sugar you might like from the dispensers on the coffee table and I will come around and pour your tea. When we have all had our tea I will come around and help you decipher what your tea leaves might read! What fun!" several students were looking a little bored after Trelawney's speech and a few girls were completely riveted and very excited. Harry looked bored but he was willing to try anything once. He drank his tea and swapped teacups with Ron.

"So what do you read Mr Weasley?" Trelawney asked kindly.

"Well Harry has this wonky kind of cross and that's trials and suffering and he has this little circular thing here which could be the sun…so….Harry you're going to suffer but…" Ron's voice became hesitant "you're going to be happy about it"

"Oh what rott give me that!" Trelawney said taking the cup away from Ron, instantly she gasped and took a few steps back "You have….the grim!"

"What's the grim?" someone asked.

"The grim…is an omen….of death!" Ginny read from her text book and gasped. The whole room just stared at Harry for the rest of the lesson and Harry did his best to pretend he didn't notice.

"Wanna try again?" Ron asked as a few others were trying again. Harry and Ron went and cleaned their cups and got more drink sitting and sipping at it quietly. Ron put his tea cup down and said

"so Harry tell me what you see,"

"Still a whole heap of brown stuff," Harry replied with a sigh "this is obviously not going to be my expert field"

The boys both laughed together as the lesson ended for the day.


	3. A warning from Snape

Dinner could not end fast enough for Harry who had every head from Gryffindor staring at him throughout the meal.

"My what a little exhibitionist you are tonight Potter," Snape said eliciting a laugh from a few students, "My office 7pm"

"Yes sir," Harry said he swallowed his mouthful thinking hard. How could he be in trouble with Snape already surely he couldn't be blamed for the way the other students were behaving! Harry sat and looked at what was on his plate in front of him and tried to have a little bit but his stomach was in knots and he pushed it away. He decided to leave and go to the library for a little while and read until the time came to go to Snape's office.

Madam Pince smiled as she walked into the library in the knowledge that Harry would be quietly studious as always. "The library shall be closing in an hour Potter please don't be too long," she said.

"Don't worry I won't be," Harry said as he walked through the door and placed his schoolbag onto the nearest table. He thought now was as good a time as any to get into a little homework maybe look up some books to borrow and read later.

The time flew by and before he knew it he was packing his books back into his bag borrowing the few library books he had chosen on the way out. He slowly made his way down to the dungeons of the castle and Snape's office. Snape was waiting in the doorway for him.

"You're late," he said, slapping his backside as he walked past and into the office Snape closed the door behind him.

He started to question his son on his recent activities, "Word has gotten to my attention that you were spotted showing off in Care of Magical Creatures class today care to explain why?"

"I was NOT showing off Hagrid was using me for a demonstration!" Harry said angrily.

"So then WHY was this adventure over the great lake and why were you not even holding on properly!" Snape asked trying to keep himself calm despite the hormonal teenager in front of him.

Harry was in trouble he knew he was so he did the only thing that he could think of doing at the time….deflect it.

"I was just having a bit of fun! Besides it's not like I was deliberately antagonising the poor thing like Draco was!" Harry said exasperated.

"Harry James Potter I do not CARE what Draco Malfoy was doing!" Snape said enraged "he is NOT my son Harry, YOU are and if you do not start thinking before you act I will have no choice but to turn you over my knee! Just because you are back at school does not make you immune to having a sore backside!" Snape had unknowingly to Harry stored this new information away in his mind to discuss with Lucius at some later point.

"But…"

"SILENCE" Snape said looking down at the boy. Harry wisely shut up. "Now we can talk about something else that I am concerned with young man. I have been informed that you did not obey Professor McGonagall's directions during the detention you had with her the other evening."

"But I couldn't think clearly," Harry said quietly.

"Could be an after effect of the spell, did you inform Professor McGonagall of this fact?" Snape asked calmly.

"No there wasn't time…" Harry said rushed.

"Try that one again young man and think very carefully before you answer," Snape demanded.

"Uh well….I just didn't think of it at the time," Harry said sheepishly.

"Exactly my point son you don't THINK to do what is right sometimes. Now what do you think you should do to rectify the situation?" Snape asked gently.

"I should go and apologise to Professor McGonagall," Harry said.

"Good boy," Snape said, "I think you should write her a letter of apology including the events of that day. It should be at least a foot long parchment and when you're finished you can give it to me to read before giving it to Professor McGonagall. I think tomorrow's transfiguration class should be plenty of time."

Harry carried his bag over to Snape's desk and instructed and started his work. He wanted to make sure that he made a good job of it not just because he feared the possibility of further punishment, which he did, but because he felt honestly ashamed of how he had acted. He didn't know why he didn't behave in the detention but he had other things on his mind that night which seemed more important. As he started his letter he thought of how he wanted his father to be proud of him but he wasn't used to people actually caring about his behaviour or wondering what it was he had been doing. Still having a family who cared for him was an experience that he had learned to love in the past year and he didn't want to do anything which might jeopardise that.

After a while Snape lifted his head from his marking and said "so son, bring it here and show me what you have written," he said gently. Harry obeyed handing his father the letter that he had put so much effort into.

"Very good Harry," Snape said picking up his wand and waving it over Harry's words carefully, "a few spelling errors which I have altered and I don't like your third paragraph very much. Good ideas but I don't think McGonagall needs to know that much about the way that I live my life. Focus more on the events of the day and less on how you worry about how I'd react to it. Although I am deeply touched that you feel that way," he squeezed Harry's shoulder gently and indicated for him to return to his writing. "Let me know when you are finished and I will look it over again son,"

Harry sat back down and fixed the errors that Snape had mentioned reading the letter carefully before giving it back for him to inspect. He smiled when he noticed a few words had been changed here and there to sound slightly better and take out places where he was repeating himself. He noticed that the letter was a little shorter than it was the first time he had written it and so he simply wrote at the bottom.

"you have my deepest apologies for the way I acted in class and during our detention and I will try to behave in a way that puts pride into the Gryffindor house in future."

Snape scowled a little when he read that bit but he had to admit that his boy knew how much the old witch would simply adore to know her little lion was trying to come back into the den.

"That's fine Harry," Snape said, "I must return to my marking the students are expecting their results tomorrow but before I let you return the Gryffindor tower I need to ask you a few things."

Snape looked DEEPLY into his eyes. Harry's heart jumped into his throat. Snape's voice lowered, "Harry...is everything alright lately?"

Harry immediately thought of his strange dream of falling but decided that it would be better not to tell his father about it at this stage in time. "No sir, nothing!" he lied.

Snape did not like the way that answer felt but he decided to ignore it for this moment in time. "and school?" he asked.

"Fine" Harry said happily.

"One final thing before you go. I heard that Sirius Black has been spotted in Hogsmeade. I do not want you going there until it is safe am I understood?" Snape said gently.

"Yes sir," he said sadly. He had been looking forward to going to Hogsmeade.

Snape felt relief at this answer and simply said "If you think of anything later you know where to find me. Ok off you go,"

"Yes sir," Harry said happily and he walked over and opened the door.

"Oh and remember Harry, behave yourself!" Snape said, "Or the next time we meet will not be as pleasant."

Harry cringed as he saw the concern in Snape's eyes. He knew right then, Snape cared for him and had suddenly realised he was not comfortable with lying to him at all. Harry left Snape's room with the biggest smile. The sort of smile you cannot wipe away. Dad loves me and I don't want to lie to him again. EVER!

He wondered why he had been allowed to get away without getting into further trouble but hadn't his father said that he could have an after effect from the spell so maybe it was that? But whatever it was he felt grateful and he only hoped that he could keep himself out of trouble between now and the end of year. Avoiding everybody's attention in Gryffindor tower he claimed he had a headache and went to bed early reading by wandlight. As he put the book down and lay down into his bed he thought about how strange the day had been and of his dream. Yawning he pulled his blankets up around his chin and closed his eyes allowing the tiredness to take him.


	4. Into Wonderland

Harry lifted his head and looked around the room confused for a moment and just trying to get his bearings. This place did not look like his room back in Gryffindor tower and seemed well sort of empty. He stood up from where he was sitting in the corner and wandered around the room for a little while noticing that it seemed to be a circular room with no windows and only one tiny door. He walked over to it this must be the way out of the room but…the door seemed to be about the same size as his foot!

"Well don't just sit there staring at me don't you want to get through?" a voice asked. Harry looked around he was used to having different ghosts talking to him who he couldn't see or other magical creatures but he couldn't see what could possibly be talking to him!

"Uh….hello?" he said nervously looking around for the magical creature.

"Arent you going to try knocking on me?" said the creature.

"Why would I want to knock on you? Besides where on earth are you?" Harry asked looking around in confusion. Then he finally spotted it…the door! It had a little face on it!

"FINALLY! Sheesh what does a door gotta do for some attention round here!" it said.

"Sorry," Harry said as he knocked gently on the door.

Nothing happened.

He knocked harder.

Music started to play as the door swung open.

"Welcome to welcome to wonderland it happens to be a happening place…welcome to welcome to wonderland where you know you'll be in a place where you will see things you've never known and meet people you've never seen welcome to welcome to wonderland if you can just get through that door!"

"So what now?" Harry said kneeling down and peering through the doorway.

"eeep! Its ginormous!" came the voice of a little mouse as it went running past the door.

"I'd suggest you try the drink on the table!" the door said.

"Oh…right…" Harry said as he walked to the table taking a small glass bottle from the table.

"Drink me" was clearly written on the label.

Harry looked at the bottle thinking. He tried to remember all of the things that Snape had ever said about potions and how you should never drink something if you were unsure as to what it would do. There were many different poisons that could possibly be ingested and if you do drink from a bottle marked poison then it was bound to disagree with you sooner or later wouldn't it? But this bottle was not marked poison and it smelled, Harry undid the lid, just like butterbeer! He decided to just have a small taste and Harry suddenly shrunk down so quickly that he dropped the bottle and soaked himself with the liquid from head to toe. He continued to shrink and found himself looking up at the room around him which now looked HUGE. But he looked at the doorway and now…it looked like he could go through EASILY!

Harry happily walked out the door and looked around taking in his surroundings.

"Hi Harry!" said a large creature as it flew past him. It beat its large wings hard as alphabet letters flew out behind it like puffs of smoke and it made a loud buzzing sound. "Hi Harry!" said a smaller creature, "Hi Harry" another one. Harry followed them down a garden path into a lovely garden filled with flowers.

"Oh wow what are these and how do they know my name?" Harry said aloud in astonishment.

"They are spelling bees and we all know of you Harry and of the prophesy!" said a large flower as it unfolded its leaves just like a bird and sat on a branch of a nearby tree. Harry rubbed his eyes hard and blinked but the flower just continued to stare at him from the branch.

"Not another one!" Harry sighed "and I didn't know flowers could talk!"

"Of course they can!" another flower, with large woollen ears then asked, "where do you normally plant flowers is the ground soft or hard?"

Harry thought back to the way that he had learned how to take care of flowers which was with his Aunt Petunia and how the earth seemed to need so much work turning it and making it almost hug the flowers as they burst from the earth.

"Come on boy come up with an answer!" growled an aggressive looking flower with what looked like the head of a tiger.

"He isn't very bright is he?" said a giant sunflower. The other flowers giggled!

"I think it's quite soft!" Harry said.

"My point exactly so the flowers are always asleep!" explained the lambs ear flower kindly "Now tell me what kind of flower are you?"

"Not a rose that's for sure!" said a nearby flower bush with little flowers saying "no not one of us!"

"Definitely not"

"No way"

"nuh uh"

"well I can't say much about its petals," said the sunflower

"and the colouring is all wrong!" said the lamb ear plant.

"He must be a weed GRRRRRR" growled the tiger lily.

The rose bush quivered with its flowers shouting out "oooh a weed!"

"A weed!"

"Get rid of it!"

"Quick!"

The bird of paradise flower, still sitting on the branch, SQUAKED and swooped down towards Harry to peck him but he ducked away from its evil eye. The rose bush reached out one of its branches to trip him and the tigerlily bent down and headbutted him to roll out of the garden quickly.

Harry kept rolling and rolling leaving him quite dizzy when he finally stopped by bumping into a solid object. He sat looking at the object for a while trying to work out what it was when he heard a voice.

"wazzup man!" the voice seemed slurred and it didn't take Harry long to find out why once he found the owner of the voice. Seeing a tip of a tail over the edge of what he could only surmise was a roof to the object he rolled into. He backed away from the object a little bit so that he could get a better view standing in some brilliantly bright red poppies. He gave a little yawn. Staring up at the creature which looked like a giant caterpillar with the head of a zebra smoking a hookah.

"well that's different," Harry muttered.

"yeaaah," it said and giggled, "sorry to kill ya buzz man waz ya doin ere?"

"I uh…I dunno to be perfectly honest," Harry said confused.

"honesty bah who ever got anywhere's being dat give me a poem," the caterpillar said.

Harry stared at him as if he had just fallen off a cloud which considering how much the caterpillar was smoking of goodness knows what was probably not far from the truth! But he guessed his day couldn't get any weirder so he decided to try to remember a poem he had heard from an old storybook.

Magic is nor black or white

It comes straight from the heart

Knowing that your deepest wish

Can now come play a part

Love comes strong and plentiful

When you listen to the truth

"and ummm" Harry said thinking.

"no no man you got dat wrong!"

The caterpillar stood up as best as it could on its back feet taking another puff from the hookah.

Love comes strong and plentiful

When ye is in your youth

However if it stays for life

Then you shall learn the truth

"Oh right said Harry! And they finished together"

For in the truth of wizard kids

And witches so it should seem

Is if we use magic wisely than

We could really live the dream

The caterpillar clapped with all its front feet in delight but then looking at its tail said,

"Ooops its time!" it said and pushed itself to the edge of the mushroom where it was then holding on by what looked like just its tail and slowly built itself into a cocoon. Harry watched the amazing creature whilst the cocoon slowly started by the tip of the tail and covered the whole creature in what seemed like a thick sack of goo. He watched it shake left and right as slowly something black started pushing out from the bottom and he saw the butterfly emerge from the cocoon going to the nearest poppy and just flapping its wings quietly allowing it to dry.

"Believe in yourself and maybe one day you'll become something beautiful too!" the butterfly said immodestly it seemed to have changed its language a little bit on the way through the cocoon as well. Harry yawned.

"can't slip me speech too much mate," the butterfly said with a wicked grin, then it rose up into the air saying "one side will make you grow taller the other side will make you grow taller."

"side of what?" Harry said looking around confused and yawning again loudly.

"The mushroom!" the butterfly said as it left the poppy and flew up towards the sky

Harry allowed for this overwhelming feeling of tiredness to overtake him as he slowly collapsed into the field of poppies.


	5. Hogsmeade Trip

Harry awoke the next day still feeling tired. "Come on Harry we go to Hogsmeade today!" Ron said excitedly jumping onto his bed. Harry smiled changing into a tshirt, jacket and jeans and quickly following his friend out. They joined the group of students who were surrounding McGonagall all trying to hand their forms to her at once. "If you do not have a signed form there is no visiting the village!"

"Here we go Professor," Harry said happily handing her his form in her out stretched hand.

"Hold onto your form Harry we will talk about it later," McGonagall said sternly. There couldn't really be anything all that important for her to talk about right? Harry thought, nodding along with his own thoughts he walked over to Filch and handed him his form. Filch took it along with a bunch of other papers struggling to shuffle them back into the precise order.

"Harry Potter to me please," McGonagall called out.

Harry walked over to McGonagall who was still completely surrounded by students. He stood there staring at her as she continued to collect forms from students as they were being pushed towards her by the crowd of young wizards. "Potter please go to my office I shall be with you in five minutes," McGonagall said.

"But…." Harry said looking helplessly at his friends.

"Potter…" McGonagall said and just looked at her with that stern look of a teacher with many years of experience.

"But.."

"Go Potter!" she said firmly, Harry sadly waved goodbye to his friends and walked towards McGonagall's office opened the door which he found to be unlocked and sat himself in a comfortable chair to wait.

As he sat he wondered exactly what could be going through the older witch's mind…did she know that Severus had told him? Probably I mean she did work with him and surely they would discuss students in the staff room wouldn't they? But then again Snape always was a very private man…

"Harry thank you for waiting," McGonagall said entering her office and closing the door.

Harry sat there looking confused and staring at the older witch. "Harry were you aware that Professor Snape didn't want you to go to Hogsmeade?" she asked gently.

"No Ma'am," Harry lied looking at the older woman.

She pushed her glasses down to the bridge of her nose and looked a him… "Oh really…" she said, "that's not what Severus has been telling me!"

Harry gulped.

"No Mr Potter I would suggest that the best thing for you to do is to return to your dormitory, quietly," she said.

Harry hung his head down low as he exited her office running directly into Fred and George! "Hiya Harry why so blue?" Fred said.

"McGonagall won't let me go!" Harry said glumly.

Fred and George both gaped at him in complete shock.

"Outrageous!" Fred said.

"It's an injustice!" George said

"Wait for us here at 2pm Harry

We both have some business to attend to in Hogsmeade this morning but when we come back we should be able to help you with your little problem. It is unfair for them not to let you go to Hogsmeade when you have a signed form and everything!"

"we must get going Harry we are due at honeydukes in an hour," George said.

Harry was left alone standing outside McGonagalls office confused but this isn't an uncommon occurrence for the Weasley twins. Harry shrugged and decided to go down to the library to read.

"Hello!" said a mysterious blonde haired girl sitting cross legged on a table in the middle of the serious studying area.

"Er…hi!" said Harry staring at the girl. The girl seemed to have a surprised look on her face and was holding a book upside down obviously enjoying it as she would occasionally let out a laugh. Her blue/gray eyes sparkled with a look of knowledge and she had her straggly, waist length blonde hair flowing freely cascading down her back.

"You're Harry Potter aren't you?" she asked with almost a bored expression whilst she fiddled with one of her long radish earrings.

"Uh yeah…" Harry said looking at the girl with curiosity. She seemed to glow whilst sitting on the table and she had still not stopped flipping pages in the book as if it was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen.

"Good to see Ginny doing so well," she said, "I think she's good for Hermione."

"They are just friends," Harry said automatically without even thinking. But the girl had a distant look on her face and didn't answer.

"Professor Snape seems to care a lot about you Harry, you should tell him about those dreams you've been having. He might be able to help you…he reminds me a bit of my dad. He's the editor of The Quibbler you know. Want a copy?" she asked producing a magazine from her pocket.

"uh yeah sure…" Harry said.

"no charge I think you'll find the information on page 6 to be enlightening," she said returning to her book and Harry was left standing alone whilst she disappeared back into her own little world.

Harry wandered around the library for a little while feeling a bit lost and confused by the conversation. Who was this girl? Why had she given him a magazine that was edited by her father? How could she possibly know about his relationship with Snape? How could she know that he had been having strange dreams? Just so many questions running freely around in his mind that he finally put a stop to it all by focusing on some information needed for divination. He had trouble trying to write about things for that subject as he did not want to divulge what he had been dreaming to ANYBODY he felt it was too weird and that his friends were not ready for it. If Snape knew how weird he had become maybe he wouldn't be interested in him anymore and that thought scared him.

"Hiya Harry!" came a familiar voice.

"Fred, George, what are you doing here?" Harry asked happy to see his friends.

"Mandugus stood us up!" Fred said.

"we should have known better than to wait for that clown," George said

"he's probably up at the three broomsticks doing goodness knows what," Fred said

"so we came here to find you," George said

"come on we have something to show you!" they both said happily in unison.

The twins walked over to a quiet area of the library behind a big bookcase near a wall and looked at him very seriously.

"we are about to divulge to you the greatest aid we have come across in our adventures here at Hogwarts," George said sounding official.

"this map harry, has taught us more than any of the teachers in five years of study!"

"but we have decided that your needs our greater than ours,"

"so we are hereby presenting you with…the Marauders Map!" they said in unison excitedly.

"The what?" Harry asked very suspiciously taking the map out of Fred's hand, but there were no lines, no pictures, nothing "what would I want with some crummy piece of paper?" Harry was ready to thrust the piece of paper back into Fred's hand when George laughed waving his wand at the piece of paper "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"

Suddenly lines and dots started appearing all over the paper and the map started to form.

"there's Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed as he saw a dot labelled 'Albus Dumbledore' moving around.

"He's in his study," George said

"pacing" added Fred, "he does it a lot!"

"this is so cool!" Harry said excited.

The twins calmly pointed out the best way to get to Hogsmeade, through Honeydukes cellar and Harry started to get excited all he would need is his invisibility this cloak and he would be completely free to do as he liked! His heart leapt with excitement and a big grin appeared across his face "Thanks!"

"All in a day's work," Fred said

"Oh and Harry when you are finished," George tapped the map, "mischief managed. Otherwise anybody could read it!"

"Good luck Harry!" the twins said together and then they left leaving him alone with his thoughts.


End file.
